Readers' comments

I don't think that is fair to accuse Fox without significant evidence. I am wondering how Mr. Cameron will respond to this because it will definitely effect his political capital. What ever Mr. Cameron decides will be looked upon by the public and they will make their true thoughts and opinions then of what they think of him and how he handled this situation.

At the time I made the earlier comment on this article I did not have the facts on which to presume that Liam Fox was guilty ( or not ) of the misconduct for which he now stands accused.I therefore worked on the presumption of his innocence.However in the past couple of days as further facts have come to the fore, it would now seem that Mr.Fox,even if he was not aware of details of the ministerial code, or was not fully cognizant of the rules under which public servants should operate,common sense never-the-less should have made him aware of the fact that his activity was wrong.There is no subterfuge here, nor should there be any attempt to gloss over the nature of his activity, he certainly is guilty of misconduct,and on second thought he really should have resigned earlier.His conduct is really totally unacceptable.

This will distract many while very important decisions still are taking place in the government. Mr. Cameron will have to respond to this one way or the other, and it will be intriguing to see which way he goes, although it's most likely he can't support Fox anymore.

And commentators wonder what drives the Occupy Wall Street protesters and their global counterparts... It is simply beyond belief to most of the 99% of us (and yes, I think I would now include myself in that group) how anyone could, in their wildest dreams, think that it is acceptable behaviour for a Defence Secretary, let alone the person on the street, to knowingly countenance someone representing themselves (at least from our position as taxpayers and citizens) on completely false, or at least very unclear, pretences (we can only hope that was the case). What have things come to when this is the behaviour of those supposedly leading our societies into the future?

This unfortunate event has more shades of grey to it than a majority of the British people care to examine.I would not ordinarily vote or support a rabid right winger like Liam Fox,however I do feel he is hard done by.Let me explain.It would appear that Mr.Fox was [... as I write he has resigned,by the way ] competent at his job and many people interviewed on Radio 4's PM acknowledge that, including serving and retired military officers who sometimes did not even like him as a person.Even if he made personal errors of judgement is it really right to effectively hound him out of office.I am willing to give Mr.Fox the benefit of the doubt that although he made the errors,never the less he did not compromise the security of the nation and there also seems no evidence that his friend was/is a security risk.[ Either of these would have been in my opinion such egregious acts as perhaps then to deserved the treatment he has received ].True parts of the story are unsavoury but did this deserve his head ? I find that there are large sections of the British public who unfortunately are unwilling to give even the slightest chance to anyone to make even the slightest mistake.I think the fault is not so much with those who make mistakes,the offender - we are all presumably human after all,but with some pathology in the British psyche.I find in this regard that America is more tolorant and a much better society for that.All across British society it has now become acceptable to be unsparing of anyone who makes any sort of mistake or commits any sort of error but to make sport of them.This is frightening,since all humans make mistakes,and this suggest something inhuman and unforgiving in the British.Is there no place for rehabilitation and support,or for human understanding ? Have we become so inhuman ? It is a very wicked society indeed that does not accomodate humanity as it is, but would like to turn them instead into mindless automatons.
In my opinion once again it is not the offender who is guilty but British society which make a shame of itself by once again demonstrating that it is unkind,unforgiving and harsh.
I am not of course suggesting that where punishment is deserved it should not be meeted out,however even where it is deserved it sould be proportional and reasonable,and above all we should have some sympathy for our fellow men. We are all human and therefore all make mistakes,and would expect forgiveness and understanding even were we have earred.

Gone Away !
Much blowing of the horn!
I believe this is a cry from the huntsman when the fox is flushed from cover. The response of the field is Tally Ho! The field in this case comprises the media. Mr Cameron appears to have taken on the role of The League against Cruel Sports.

It'll be interesting to see how Cameron responds to this. He surely does not want to blindly support Fox, in case Fox is guilty of serious misdemeanors, but he needs this scandal to go away quickly if he wants to have enough political capital to make his reforms without losing the public's support. It's disappointing that Britain will be distracted by this story while much more important decisions need to be made.